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this is 100% my favourite episode in the show, and a large part of why Earth is the best book. Fire is gorgeous- Water is essential to understand the whole, but Earth has so many little details like that Allilotl head.
The character design on Wan Shi Tong is just amazing. Both when in normal owl-form where his wings look a lot like a professors robe and in angry-spirit-form when his neck becomes super long and he looks scary as fuck.
@@timtsai9285 By the way, Wang Shi Tong was voiced by Hector Elizondo. He is to some extent the calling card of the late director Garry Marshall, having played in almost all of his films(particularly "Pretty Woman"). Hector Elizondo played mostly minor characters, but memorable ones. But I saw him in two films not by Garry Marshall(although I also watched the films “Pretty Woman” and “Runaway Bride”) - “Private Resort” (the future Jack Sparrow played there, and this was his second film after “A Nightmare on Elm Street”, plus this is the only film in which he can be seen naked), where he played a thief named Maestro and in the film "Getting Even with Dad" (where Macaulay Culkin played), and there he played the police chief
it’s hilarious that the archaeologist meets aang, the final member of an extinct race, and immediately pulls out his calipers to measure the child’s skull.
The professor was easily one of my favorite side characters. He ABSOLUTELY knew he was gonna die in that library, but he was so happy to find the library, he just chose to stay.
Really hoping Wan Shi Tong recognized that and let him just stay and read for the rest of his natural life. Think he had a cafeteria in there? Or wait if he brought the library back to the spirit world then the professor could totally still be there!
Isabella Boettcher, creative executive for Avatar Studios, expressed the belief that Zei did not starve to death in Wan Shi Tong's Library but was supplied with food by the Knowledge Seekers until his eventual death. Aww they're besties now
Definitely a top tier side character. I always felt like him saying “I’ve taken numerous trips into the desert.. and almost died each time” (rough quote oops) was kinda a foreshadowing for how he ended up. He had an end game he was willing to die (a few times) to find, when he finally found it it’s almost the most understandable and probable situation that he’d give his life to try to experience even a few seconds of what he was willing to risk hours and days of his life finding
I assume that, at some point, an anthropologist or anthropologists studied the swamp people and that's why there are records of them, rather than them writing stuff themselves.
Is no one going to mention how Appa looks at the ground at 5:52 while Toph describes how she sees like he's listening and trying to understand? Cool detail
idk if anyone's mentioned this before but sokka's sarcastic line about waltzing into the fire lord's home and asking if anybody's home is almost exactly what aang does on the day of black sun before he finds out that the fire nation knew about the plan all along.
@@mrpojsomnoj3313and an even longer joke of Sokka's comment about defeating the Fire Nation with jokes in which he manages to get the whole crew of the Warship out of it by telling a joke.
@@mrpojsomnoj3313 Also in 'The Avatar State'- Katara: "There's a right way to do this. Practice, study, and discipline!" Sokka: "Or just glow it up and stop that Fire Lord!"
I know it's been pointed out a lot of times, but I feel it's worth reiterating what an absolute badass Toph is. She held up a giant building with just her earth bending. While in a panic. And you can see how quickly it started sinking again when she briefly let go to make an attack against the sand benders. And then she all but stopped it again dead in its tracks in less than a second. Toph truly is the greatest earth bender in the world.
“You think you’re the first person to believe their war was justified?” I still to this day cannot get over how remarkably deep that line is for a kids show.
@@Leon_the_wildcat I agree, but remember that Zhao betrayed Wan-Shi-Tong's trust before, and destroyed a part of his library. Would you really trust a bunch of people coming in, and lying to you about their motives, after previously being betrayed?
@@Leon_the_wildcat No, clown. He has had actual physical evidence of humans doing exactly what they are and using it to slaughter innocents and genocide the air colony.
Today I learned that everyone on the planet knows what an axelotl is and can recognize it when it is fused with another animal. And not just a random cute animal you see in a picture once every two years and forget about
I don’t know I think he could’ve built it, the way he swiped the book and scroll and stuff, I think he moves in a strange spiritual way that allows him to easily interact with the physical world. But the idea of people worshipping a knowledge spirit also seems equally if not more plausible.
I always thought the Library itself of mystical. If Wan Shi Tong can move it between the physical and spiritual world, it’s not unreasonable to believe the planetarium was constructed by spirits.
"How did Zhao or any of his men make it out of there alive?" I mean...we don't know any of his soldiers made it out of there alive. Maybe Zhao left and sent a squad of firebenders into the library to torch the Fire Nation section, and Wan Shi Tong killed them all while Zhao was back at camp?
@@firepuppies4086 maybe he suggested it to his former commanding officer and then decided he'd like to ascend rank so he booked it while his CO was being turned into an owl pellet
Wan Shi Tong taking the first edition book will forever be one of my favorite moments. It just never fails to make me laugh and I don't even fully know why either lol
Imagine if this video was actually sponsored by Audible. That would've been the coolest segway to a sponsorship I've ever seen. Audible missed this awesome opportunity.
I love that you mentioned Toph being nerfed by the sand but didn’t mention the detail of her missing an attack because the blurriness of her vision impaired by it, like it’s a small detail but definitely follows the idea that she needs solid ground, very nice touch, idk I thought it was cool
How many "avatar promises" does Aang actually uphold? He breaks his promise to Katara about the scams, and while he didn't technically lie to wan shi tong, he did trick him.
@@Pandora234able Yeah. In a comic, he promised a new firelord to kill him if he stepped out of line, but when a civil war ensued Aang didn't commit and merely took him to a tea party.
I slightly disagree with the point about running back being unnecessary, just because I think it functions as character development for Sokka and helps illustrate the stakes of their entire situation better. Despite having no clue how much time they have, and knowing that they might die by delaying their escape, Sokka still thinks it's worth going back cause he knows they'll lose the war if they don't, and he's willing to give his life for that.
I'd agree with you if they actually won the war thanks to that information, but in hindsight Sokka just risked the Avatar's life for a piece of information that barely mattered in the grand scheme of things.
@@DominoPivot True, but they had no way of knowing they'd win anyway. From their position, they think they need a Hail Mary, and this seems like the closest one out there
@@DominoPivot But it could've ended the war, and would have if the Earth King hadn't fucked it up. The point is, it was their best option in that moment. Just because a risk doesn't end up paying off, doesn't necessarily mean it should never have been taken in the first place.
@George Hunt good point. It's also the start of Sokka taking the leadership roll of the invasion. Here he's rewarded for a risky stay- something he'll be punished for during the invasion
@@DominoPivot you can only say that because you know what happens next, but for the characters in the show, the eclipse meant an actual chance at catching the Fire Nation off-guard and defeating them without needing Aang to master all elements, which he was struggling at the time. It's a perfectly rational, even if very risky decision on Sokka's part to go back and figure out when's the eclipse imo
A really cool detail that you didn’t mention is that in the introduction of the sandbenders, the Archeologist chases them away from Appa, foreshadowing that they’re gonna steal him later
4:08 I'd wager Zhao found the treatise on the water tribe, then set a small fire and left before Wan-Shi-Tong could notice. This would also explain Tong's oddly extreme mistrust of humans. 10:48 Even if the Foggy Swamp Tribe doesn't make written or pictographic records there could easily have been a scholar who studied and recorded their bending style.
I think it’s super interesting how one of the knowledge seekers implicitly betrayed Wan Shi Tong by showing the Gaang the planetarium, thereby indirectly telling them about the eclipses.
Having the library sink before they figure out when the next eclipse happens adds a whole lot. It highlights Sokka's ability to make calculated risks. It gives needed tension in the exposition Sokka gives: A. Knowing what an eclipse does to fire benders is only worthwhile if you know about the next eclipse. B. The information is only truly valuable if an eclipse happens before Sozin's commet. C. They are actually desperate. Sokka understands that even though Aang and Katara don't. He recognizes that they can't afford to miss the tactical advantage this information would give. It's worth risking their life for.
I think he managed to stay for a few days and gained some level of mundane presance so whan shi ton wouldnt check up on them constantly, then burned the fire nation section and left The section on the nations is on the upper floor Plenty close to the exit Explains why the library was almost hidden, we assume its the sand that covered it But Whan shi ton proved he could sink or raise it
@@donovanulrich348 I don't think the spirit was really doing anything but being in the library. What else is he going to do, hes already got foxes getting new knowledge for him. More likely is that he studied for a day or 2, told the general that theres way too much info on the fire nation in there, and they dispatcehd a few lowranking fire benders to burn it down, who probably died. What is crazier, imagine if he spent more time on the earth kingdom in there....I mean, the water benders aren't exactly going out of their way to fight fire nation in the show (which is why the fire nation is winning probably). Zhao could have found some crazy info and probably could have inforned the general of crazy war changing events...
7:56 she is talking about when the moon spirit was in the bag, during lunar eclipses, the moon turns red and it’s exactly what happened when the fish got in the bag.
my theory is that at one point wan shi tong was once Just A Guy but his dedication to pure knowledge for knowledge's sake eventually transformed him, and the bit about "STUFFED heads of anthrology" was more than just a throwaway joke, and the walrus-ram, lynx-tarantuala, and crocodile-axolotl on the wall were other scholars who were transformed into spirits in a simmilar way who died before him, and he really is warning the professor that if he spends too long reading all the library's books he'll transform into a spirit beast too
what if the professor IS wan shi tong, we know spirit time works differently, maybe he eventually becomes the spirit and goes back in time through the spirit world
I think one of the reasons to have Sokka turn back for the eclipse info while trying to escape, rather than have them get the info and then need to escape, is it makes the impact of Appa being stolen much worse. If they had left right away, as soon as the library started sinking, then the writers would have had to have no way for the gang to get out in time to rescue him. But instead, Appa was lost as a direct consequence of Sokka's choice - they could have rescued him if they left as soon as the library started sinking, but instead they had to stay behind and get the vital intel. It gives Sokka's choice weight he didn't know it would have, and also makes it feel like Appa was lost for something.
Spirits are essentially lawful neutral, or pure lawful, they each have a code, and they EXIST by that code, and if you think about it, that makes sense, they live for thousands of years, and after a while they probably go mad with boredom, so they give themselves a code to give a sense of challenge, to an immortal, life is basically a game, so they give themselves a role, and some rules to play, it's actually what I think an immortal would do IRL.
I think it is less to make things more challenging and a game, and more so that they simply believe they are right. They have lived hundred or thousands of years and have that many years of knowledge and experiences and are usually isolationists so they don't come into contact with differing beliefs. So over time they become more and more dogmatic about things. Think about humans, a decent chunk of people anywhere from 15-80 are very staunch in their beliefs about one thing or another.
More of the concept of they are their code. Hei bai is the guardian spirit of his forest and he is in essence the forest itself given form. Thus his wrath at its destruction. Although it doesn’t make sense that a guardian spirit doesn’t know how forest fires work. Ko on the other hand is a collector of faces and steals faces when they express a faces purpose of displaying emotion. Then you have Wan shi ton the collector of knowledge essentially a cross between a collector and hoarder who lives in an ivory tower with his head buried in the sand who exists solely to expand his hoard.
I've always thought of them as representations metaphysical concepts, with the Avatar being a spirit themself, one that brings balance and ensures the safety of both the physical and the spirit worlds.
this is the state you reach with enlightenment. life truly is a literal game and given that ephemeral human material conditions are unimportant from this perspective, dedication to a mission to promote the proliferation of certain values is truly all there is to do.
There’s a moment when the owl is looking for Katara while she is hiding behind a bookshelf that looks like it was inspired by the kitchen scene with the raptors from the original Jurassic Park.
"Update: this kid goes pretty hard actually lmao - kid nearly killed Zhan for real" subbed lmfao glorious that you snuck this into like three damn frames
What I appreciate about you dude is that you obviously love this show, but also criticize it fairly. That climax-timing issue bugged me too, but you put it way better than I could’ve. Keep them coming, these make my week!
I wanna think about how many dates they actually had to check for the eclipse. At the end of book 2, in episode 2x19, General How says the Day of Black Sun is in “exactly two months.” Add to that the fact that four weeks are supposed to have passed between now and Tales of Ba Sing Se. Yeah that leaves a couple episodes where we could add a little bit of time, but I think it’s safe to say that the eclipse is around 3-4 months from now, which would mean they checked between 90-120 dates. EXCEPT! If they were really smart, they’d only have to check 3 or 4 dates. Why? Well people in this universe seem to know the phases of the moon pretty well (despite the lack of continuity in moon animation) because whenever the full moon becomes a plot point, the characters always know it’s coming. For a solar eclipse to happen, it definitionally has to be a new moon, and it stands to reason that if they know when the full moon is, they’d know when the new moon is as well. Yeah maybe they wouldn’t know those exact dates of the top of their heads, but they could also narrow in on it that first time a solar eclipse gets close. Who knows, maybe that’s exactly what they were doing, but this montage seems to imply that they’re checking every single day.
I like this thought process way better because it can show us how clever they are. Plus it can narrow down that time window that was _clearly_ controversial. "We don't have enough time to make it to the exit, but we have enough time to check 100+ dates" always bothered me so much. Also, they didn't know when the eclipse would come or even if it would come before the comet! So without hindsight, they're willfully checking every date from present day to comet! You can't just montage that time by!
I think the problem with that reasoning is, well, *we* know the requirements for solar eclipse, but would the people of Avatar's world? And the moon isn't just a piece of rock, it is a spirit.
@ JackPhoenixCz I doubt too the information is common knowledge. Otherwise Sokka would not be insisting on checking now if there was any hope of any scholar (like in Ba Sing Se university) being able to tell when next solar eclipse is. Unless Sokka didn’t think they would know even if they knew something about the requirements? And maybe they do know but Sokka/Katara and Aang lack the education to know anything about this so they think only this library has any information.
I'd like to point out that weeks, months, years and even days can take very different amounts of time depending on the planet. Additionally I didn't knew there was a specific moon phase for an eclipse to happen, even, or even because, I'm on 21st century, I have access to the information but no need to know. As travellers, and especially the siblings from the south pole who hunted their own food on a place with just ice as landmarks, knowing your constellations is probably very important.
We see in Korra that the books are basically all fine. Besides, he's mostly just knocking over the shelves, not melting the books with lasers or anything. Also, he 100% DNGAF, because _he_ won't be the one who has to clean that shit up.
yeah he's a classic seemingly well-meaning authority figure who nonetheless is simultaneously so powerful that nobody should be able to escape (especially Zhao) yet somehow still fails, and causes himself more grief in the process.
Considering he’s sending his library “out of this world,” it can be presumed that there’s some weird spirit world laws that prevents or circumvents destruction of this kind, somehow Of course, with firebending or total annihilation circumventing the retention of such knowledge.
Returning to the Planetarium should heighten the tension as their escape is already perilous, but does drag on. Having Mr. Owl interrupt their search for the Day of the Black Sun so they have to go back to finish it instead of initiating the entire process seems a good way to get that good character moment for Saka realizing they can't leave without that information without slowing the finale of the episode to a crawl.
I think them turning around is great character building for sokka. Think about it. Everybody has the standard reaction of „oh no we might die, let’s get out of here“ but sokkas top priority isn’t the immediate danger. He grew up under the fire nation raids. His father actually abandoned him because he was willing to put down his life and fight an impossible war to save the world. But that just inspires sokka to be selfless like him. He believes from his heart that beating the fire nation is more important than his own personal life. So if there is a chance the calendar might help them achieve that you best believe my boy sokka would turn around.
I agree it's a great character moment for Sokka Although I think that would've worked really well if he didn't make out of the library with the rest of the gaang.. If he died there sacrificing himself for that knowledge that would've been a 10
Just when you said the big reference to Star Wars bit at 1:08 I noticed the lamp-looking thing hanging off the side of the entrance looks like a Death Star!
I think Toph's "there it is!" line is the first of her many quips poking fun at other people forgetting about her blindness. That's one thing I like about how they handle her: the jokes about her blindness are just as likely to be ones she makes at others' expense for being dumb as they are to be a slip-up on her part Compilation of most of them: ruclips.net/video/D7E-D1KvXxE/видео.html
I love how the biggest problems with Avatar are minor things like "Hey, Sokka abruptly brings up this sensible concern, that we never even considered, for the first time this episode".
Well, if there are anthropologists in this universe, and other types of scientists, then it is quite imaginable that the style of the swamp people has been recorded by them. This of course, if the swamp people themselves did really not document it. But even if not, it is also imaginable that the swamp people have some sort of oral tradition concerning their bending. Who knows, Wan Shi Tong might have travelled the world for field work to research all the bending styles there are.
4:06 it's an axolotl toad Something heartbreaking about this episode: It's possible that if Aang and Sokka hadn't turned back to figure out the eclipse thing, Aapa might not have been kidnapped because they might've made it out before the sandbenders had the time to capture him.
1:29 you could make the argument that the pressure of the air pushing against the cloth could loosen things out of it, especially solids, it doesnt even necessarily need to dry it if it can just... _push_ it off.
The Sandbenders are so cool and we bearly find out anything about them. Their bending is clearly influenced by airbending. I also like the way this one guy stabilizes himself at 10:18 just like Katara did back in season 1 with ice when she fought against Pakku. It makes me wonder if they are also influenced by waterbenders (specifically those from the poles because icebending seemed to be an unknown concept for the waterbenders from the swamp)
Sandbending isn't the only fusion of two elements, at least if you consider Legend of Korra canon. Lavabending mixes fire and earth, and there are a couple other things that I can't remember right now and will feel really stupid when I remember them in five minutes
@@dungeonmaster4226 the fusion of elements can be considered an extension of Iroh talking about how any ordinary bender can take knowledge from other civilizations and use it to create new knowledge and wisdom.
"Watch this show with me," I said to my wife. "It's... uh... Kung-Fu Jesus and the Planeteers." "That sounds dumb," she said. "Just one episode." That was this episode. "WE CAN'T GO TO BED! WHAT HAPPENS TO APPA?!" She was nearly inconsolable. I went from watching 1-2 episodes a night to watching 4-5 episodes a night. Due to our work schedules, she was able to watch everything up to this point without me before our second watch session. Never would have happened if... like... a human character was taken.
i think that the sudden worry about the war that sokka had at the start is the reason why he felt he needed to go back and find the date of the eclipse, like he was starting to freak out about them not having a plan to defeat ozai and he found the perfect chance, he wasnt gonna let it slip
I think the reason they couldn't just have them discover the solar eclipse date before the library starts sinking is that then the Gaang would get out *too* quickly, and the sandbenders wouldn't have time to finish stealing Apps. Like imagine how that would go: the Gaang learn the date of The eclipse, Wan Shi Tong goes apeshit, the Gaang books it out of there, and when they come out the sandbenders are still in the middle of stealing Appa so they can stop them. Alternatively the sandbenders could come before the library starts to sink, but then Toph could put up a fight. Either way, there wouldn't be enough time with no one available to defend Appa.
You make an absolutely fantastic point. Didn't consider the alternatives. This really was the only way to stall for time for everything to happen the way it did
Throwing back to Hei Bai, the black and white spirit, being literally named "black and white" in mandarin, Wan Shi Tong, he who knows ten thousand things, is literally named "he who knows ten thousand (or, as the number is often used, "immeasurable") things". Pretty neat!
Maybe Saka’s worry kicks in after he was stuck in the ground. He was saying in a line “it really makes a man think what’s important in life” but got cut off
I think the best little insignificant detail in this episode is that whenever wan shi tong speaks his beak never matches the words, like he doesn’t actually need to use his mouth to speak and just does it (imperfectly) to try and make himself seem more natural to the humans or something. very tiny detail but honestly one of my favorites in the show
I never understood the professor deciding to stay in the library. He says he wants to spend an eternity reading, buy theres no food or water. He's just going to die in a few days
Easily one of my favorite episodes in Avatar. Love the idea of a library in the desert with seemingly all recorded knowledge up to that point stored within it and the part with Toph making that tough decision to let Appa get captured so she can save the rest of her friends was heartbreaking as a kid Edit: Just realized the library of Wan Shi Tong is inspired by the Library of Alexandria. Both are libraries in the middle of the desert containing large amounts of knowledge, and in both cases the vast amount of knowledge within was lost to time
Nah it wasnt a misstep by the writers, sokkas decision to go back in the planetarium. The pacing and climax was right because we as the audience know/ see toph struggling to hold up the library while also trying to protect Appa. Meanwhile, sokka doesnt know how much time he has left but we do so it adds another level of uneasy and anticipation for thr viewer. Making the end result even more nail biting.
They have no reason to. There's nothing for an immortal to gain from lying. They already know everything they care to know, and the information is useless without someone to give it to.
@@alastarmullen1072 oh for sure, but I found it strange that even Vaatu doesn’t lie, when tgey pleaded with Wan to set them free because “ he has been tormented to thousands of years” it wasn’t a lie, it was misleading, but definitely not a lie. It just seems like the writers took care to make that a trait of spirits.
Even Koh, a dude who is called “the face stealer,” something closer to a demon in western mythology, ends up helping Aang because he gives him the info he’s looking for. He plays with Aang a lot, trying to get him to make any expression so he can do what his title says, but he’s fully honest otherwise.
Professor Zei actually shows up again in The Legend Of Korra, when she (Spoilers) Goes to the spirit world and finds the Sunken Library, she talks to the Giant Owl and states “i could spend the rest of my life reading here” inwhich the owl responds “the last person who said that is still here” and he then points over to The Professor, who is now a ragged clothed Skeleton, surrounded by scrolls and open books.
Ya know what's the one thing I adore about this channel? The fact that you don't just mindlessly praise everything about the show because it's good, but you also critique it when it's justified. Sure, a lot of these are minor nitpicks for the sake of comedy (like the moon continuity, or the "normal animals" bit) but, as an example, your criticism on Sokka and Aang going back to to discover the eclipse when they did was entirely valid and justified.
4:06 That looks like an axolotyl-toad, maybe. The gill structures look axolotyl. Also, "stuffed head of anthropology" is too funny! It's amazing the amount of humor that takes age to appreciate
ngl, i'd risk getting killed over a misunderstanding to have access to a library of all the world's knowlege. Especially if it was owned by a giant talking god owl.
I love how you keep acknowledging how the spirits are impartial and weird as shit and do things that don't make sense to us mortals, and are awesome for it.
Not that the writers know anything about moon continuity, but in the few months Sokka would have to check for an eclipse date he'd only have to check the days with new moons so really it's only as many as the months plus or minus one until the comet.
Alternatively, given how infamous the "full moon" animation gimmick happened on this show...maybe they could have planned a regular invasion taking their time and then they just ask Yue if she can move the moon a little to the left.
Hello! Just want to thank you for such great content! This is like the 3rd time I'm re-watching your vids and they are really interesting, I also have some stuff to add regarding some stuff you point out, but I feel like I'm a bit too late to the party 😅 anyway cheers!
Wait... so Katara's lunar eclipse reference is referring to the season 1 finale..? For some reason, and I've seen this like five times, I always thought she was talking about an isolated event that didn't happen in the show. Because I agree, just because the moon turned red, doesn't mean it was a lunar eclipse. Pretty sure it was symbolic and made for a pretty great art style. Also, a solar eclipse blocks the sun entirely, which explains why fire-bending doesn't work. But in a lunar eclipse, the moon is entirely visible. It's not blocked at all. Unless we say the light of the moon gives waterbenders more power? But since the light of the moon is reflected from the sun, that would mean that waterbenders grt their power from the sun! Which makes no sense. It's the gravity of the moon, not the light of the moon, that should give its power. But I'm sure the show just wanted to be symbolic, like having a full moon every other episode.
The whole with your theory is that a full moon gives water benders more power, so the light reflected does help to transmit the power somehow. It seemed reasonable that if the reflection is “tainted” (the red light seen during a lunar eclipse), the power to waterbend would be cut
@@gamewarrior348 So they get their power from the sun. I guess I'm okay with that, as Guru Pathik said the separation of the four elements is an illusion.
When Sokka and Aang go back to find out when the next solar eclipse is, I think they unwittingly allow Appa to get captured. If they left immediately, they would have likely gotten out in time to save Appa from the sandbenders... But they also wouldn't have been able to prepare for the day of black sun.
Sokka could’ve also unknowingly caused Appa’s capture by taking the parchment about the eclipse, as Wan Shi Tong (probably) wouldn’t have found out about their plans, and subsequently sink the building, thus Toph wouldn’t have been preoccupied with keeping the building up to stop the sandbenders and be able to save Appa. Then again, they’d leave with no plan at all, making the episode a waste of time.
I find it extremely ironic that the owl would fight to defend his knowledge to be used in way he deems unfit while one of those being to use it to help fight in a defensive war.
Side note first: I'm rewatching the show, and then trying to finish both the comics and Korra, so having these videos available gives my binge more focus and points out things I miss, so thank you for this series. This was always a bit of a frustrating episode for me to watch standalone. It ends on a sad note for a change (the series needs that variation though), and them going back while Appa was being taken was kinda aggravating. However, I love the owl spirit and the way the eclipse (and even Appa being gone) gives the team purpose. I feel an important thing about the spirits is that while the Avatar is the bridge between their worlds, just like not every human is a fan of the Avatar, not all spirits will be (and with that, probably not most of them). Probably to the spirits, unless a human is out there trying to destroy the spirit world, few of them would care about what the Avatar is doing lol.
I always thought holding a building up made Toph seam extremely power, which helps the idea of her being the first person to bead metal. She is stopping it for sinking into the whole spirt world
Hey guys! Thanks for all the support on the videos and polls lately. Keep this ball rolling by leaving me a comment and a like, I see a really big difference in numbers when you guys help me out!
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Next time we see The Professor, is when Jinora visits the library 72 years later.
You definitely deserve the boost. Your content is really fun and entertaining
I think the 3rd one was an axolotl frog
Rolling rolling rolling.
I love this episode so much. The line “Do you think you are the first human to believe your war is justified” is just perfect writing and delivery.
Id just be like "well were literaly just defending ourselves. So thats irrelevent."
I’d mention how there’s a nation about to commit genocide twice
@@ihavenocommonsensebut2008 Owl: Source?
@@turkeygod6665 Sokka: Trust me bro
this is 100% my favourite episode in the show, and a large part of why Earth is the best book. Fire is gorgeous- Water is essential to understand the whole, but Earth has so many little details like that Allilotl head.
The character design on Wan Shi Tong is just amazing. Both when in normal owl-form where his wings look a lot like a professors robe and in angry-spirit-form when his neck becomes super long and he looks scary as fuck.
Like the evolution of long furby
Some owls actually do something similar when threatened. Look up evil owl transformation on youtube
@@timtsai9285 By the way, Wang Shi Tong was voiced by Hector Elizondo. He is to some extent the calling card of the late director Garry Marshall, having played in almost all of his films(particularly "Pretty Woman"). Hector Elizondo played mostly minor characters, but memorable ones. But I saw him in two films not by Garry Marshall(although I also watched the films “Pretty Woman” and “Runaway Bride”) - “Private Resort” (the future Jack Sparrow played there, and this was his second film after “A Nightmare on Elm Street”, plus this is the only film in which he can be seen naked), where he played a thief named Maestro and in the film "Getting Even with Dad" (where Macaulay Culkin played), and there he played the police chief
it’s hilarious that the archaeologist meets aang, the final member of an extinct race, and immediately pulls out his calipers to measure the child’s skull.
Gotta be prepared for every situation.
Think he's an anthropologist. Different to an archaeologist.
lmao yup
@@puggzwithtwogees yeah, he even says so when introducing himself.
@@puggzwithtwogees oh yeah. possibly even funnier.
The professor was easily one of my favorite side characters. He ABSOLUTELY knew he was gonna die in that library, but he was so happy to find the library, he just chose to stay.
Really hoping Wan Shi Tong recognized that and let him just stay and read for the rest of his natural life. Think he had a cafeteria in there? Or wait if he brought the library back to the spirit world then the professor could totally still be there!
Isabella Boettcher, creative executive for Avatar Studios, expressed the belief that Zei did not starve to death in Wan Shi Tong's Library but was supplied with food by the Knowledge Seekers until his eventual death.
Aww they're besties now
Definitely a top tier side character. I always felt like him saying “I’ve taken numerous trips into the desert.. and almost died each time” (rough quote oops) was kinda a foreshadowing for how he ended up. He had an end game he was willing to die (a few times) to find, when he finally found it it’s almost the most understandable and probable situation that he’d give his life to try to experience even a few seconds of what he was willing to risk hours and days of his life finding
@@shenles agreed. By staying he proved that he had no bad intentions
I assume that, at some point, an anthropologist or anthropologists studied the swamp people and that's why there are records of them, rather than them writing stuff themselves.
or Wan Shi Tong himself, or even his knowledge seekers.
Hsyahagnkoooooionoooo
yup
@@Human_traain ah, i see. But what about subatomic particles?
Probably as we anthro people are crack addicts when we find out about a unique culture, behavior or creature
Is no one going to mention how Appa looks at the ground at 5:52 while Toph describes how she sees like he's listening and trying to understand? Cool detail
He definitely understands what people say unlike Momo, when the swamp benders said they were gonna eat them he bolted.
idk if anyone's mentioned this before but sokka's sarcastic line about waltzing into the fire lord's home and asking if anybody's home is almost exactly what aang does on the day of black sun before he finds out that the fire nation knew about the plan all along.
That's good !
SO they reused the same joke as when on North Aang said about spirit using their power to crush fire nation attack.
@@mrpojsomnoj3313and an even longer joke of Sokka's comment about defeating the Fire Nation with jokes in which he manages to get the whole crew of the Warship out of it by telling a joke.
Yea
@@mrpojsomnoj3313
Also in 'The Avatar State'-
Katara: "There's a right way to do this. Practice, study, and discipline!"
Sokka: "Or just glow it up and stop that Fire Lord!"
2:49 Gotta love how you cut out the joke so it seems like Toph actually saw the library tower. It was so smooth I almost didnt notice 😂
I know it's been pointed out a lot of times, but I feel it's worth reiterating what an absolute badass Toph is. She held up a giant building with just her earth bending. While in a panic. And you can see how quickly it started sinking again when she briefly let go to make an attack against the sand benders. And then she all but stopped it again dead in its tracks in less than a second.
Toph truly is the greatest earth bender in the world.
Not only that, but she was fighting against spirit magic. Like that’s crazy. Toph’s earthbending literally holds up to spirit magic!
@@gamewarrior348 So she in that moment was as strong or stronger than incomplete avatar state.
i think she is the greatest bender in the series.
@@genieooofuzzy4181 she probably freaking is
@@jackb.207 name a more powerful bender, though. like Azula is a monster but what would she do against a metal suit flying at her?
“You think you’re the first person to believe their war was justified?” I still to this day cannot get over how remarkably deep that line is for a kids show.
@@Leon_the_wildcat I agree, but remember that Zhao betrayed Wan-Shi-Tong's trust before, and destroyed a part of his library. Would you really trust a bunch of people coming in, and lying to you about their motives, after previously being betrayed?
@@Leon_the_wildcat Doesn't matter if theirf side is the "good one" the line represents much more than that.
@@reservoirfrogs2177But then that same “wise” spirit violently tries to bury them alive and tries to kill them to thwart their escape.
@@StefanVeenstra Because he believes they are using it for war. Are you an actual child or just stupid?
@@Leon_the_wildcat No, clown. He has had actual physical evidence of humans doing exactly what they are and using it to slaughter innocents and genocide the air colony.
Today I learned that everyone on the planet knows what an axelotl is and can recognize it when it is fused with another animal. And not just a random cute animal you see in a picture once every two years and forget about
i mean there was a very similar pokemon, ofcourse we recognize it :D
@@mehmehmehmeh and he is one of the most popular pokemon, i also know the pangolin because i love sandshrew so i remember it is not just an armadillo
Everything changed when mojang added axelotl to minecraft
All these plebs talking about axolotls in Minecraft. Reply if your an OG who knew about axolotls because of Gravity Falls
@@ntfoperative9432 WEAK! When i was a child i got axelotl plushy, i thought it was funny lizard.
Toph saying “I’ve held books before” before she holds up the entire library was great foreshadowing
she held ALL the books at once
wan shi tong-worshipping civilization is probably the coolest and most novel avatar headcannon i've ever came across
All glory to the Owl God
if hermaeus mora has followers
I would be part of this religion.
I mean... The Sand benders had to come from somewhere, right?
I don’t know I think he could’ve built it, the way he swiped the book and scroll and stuff, I think he moves in a strange spiritual way that allows him to easily interact with the physical world. But the idea of people worshipping a knowledge spirit also seems equally if not more plausible.
I always thought the Library itself of mystical. If Wan Shi Tong can move it between the physical and spiritual world, it’s not unreasonable to believe the planetarium was constructed by spirits.
"How did Zhao or any of his men make it out of there alive?"
I mean...we don't know any of his soldiers made it out of there alive. Maybe Zhao left and sent a squad of firebenders into the library to torch the Fire Nation section, and Wan Shi Tong killed them all while Zhao was back at camp?
That sounds utterly cowardly.
Yeah probs what went down
@@firepuppies4086 maybe he suggested it to his former commanding officer and then decided he'd like to ascend rank so he booked it while his CO was being turned into an owl pellet
Or better yet, he went down there with his gang and left while they were torching down the library as a distraction for him to get away.
@@ColdFuse96 Cruel but definitely something Zhao would do
Yep seems in character for him
Wan Shi Tong taking the first edition book will forever be one of my favorite moments. It just never fails to make me laugh and I don't even fully know why either lol
Imagine if this video was actually sponsored by Audible. That would've been the coolest segway to a sponsorship I've ever seen. Audible missed this awesome opportunity.
Audible disspointed
@@Human_traain I think they are audibly disappointed.
@@aridabaginindabag9970 NOT THE PUN
I haven’t seen an audible ad in like years, think they might’ve disappeared into obscurity.
@@I_Dislike_RUclips_Handles Grian, a Minecraft RUclipsr still does regular sponsorships with Audible
I love that you mentioned Toph being nerfed by the sand but didn’t mention the detail of her missing an attack because the blurriness of her vision impaired by it, like it’s a small detail but definitely follows the idea that she needs solid ground, very nice touch, idk I thought it was cool
How many "avatar promises" does Aang actually uphold? He breaks his promise to Katara about the scams, and while he didn't technically lie to wan shi tong, he did trick him.
they did justify that lying for the right reason is acceptable in that one beloved episode "the great divide". i heard that one was a fan favorite :P
add those to the war crime list
Avatar promises is bs
@@Pandora234able
Yeah. In a comic, he promised a new firelord to kill him if he stepped out of line, but when a civil war ensued Aang didn't commit and merely took him to a tea party.
> giant reference to Star Wars
Like the DEATH STAR hanging on the front?
> "Hey, this is some quality rope!"
* proceeds to CUT it into unusable bits *
I slightly disagree with the point about running back being unnecessary, just because I think it functions as character development for Sokka and helps illustrate the stakes of their entire situation better. Despite having no clue how much time they have, and knowing that they might die by delaying their escape, Sokka still thinks it's worth going back cause he knows they'll lose the war if they don't, and he's willing to give his life for that.
I'd agree with you if they actually won the war thanks to that information, but in hindsight Sokka just risked the Avatar's life for a piece of information that barely mattered in the grand scheme of things.
@@DominoPivot True, but they had no way of knowing they'd win anyway. From their position, they think they need a Hail Mary, and this seems like the closest one out there
@@DominoPivot But it could've ended the war, and would have if the Earth King hadn't fucked it up. The point is, it was their best option in that moment. Just because a risk doesn't end up paying off, doesn't necessarily mean it should never have been taken in the first place.
@George Hunt good point. It's also the start of Sokka taking the leadership roll of the invasion. Here he's rewarded for a risky stay- something he'll be punished for during the invasion
@@DominoPivot you can only say that because you know what happens next, but for the characters in the show, the eclipse meant an actual chance at catching the Fire Nation off-guard and defeating them without needing Aang to master all elements, which he was struggling at the time. It's a perfectly rational, even if very risky decision on Sokka's part to go back and figure out when's the eclipse imo
A really cool detail that you didn’t mention is that in the introduction of the sandbenders, the Archeologist chases them away from Appa, foreshadowing that they’re gonna steal him later
4:08 I'd wager Zhao found the treatise on the water tribe, then set a small fire and left before Wan-Shi-Tong could notice. This would also explain Tong's oddly extreme mistrust of humans.
10:48 Even if the Foggy Swamp Tribe doesn't make written or pictographic records there could easily have been a scholar who studied and recorded their bending style.
I think it’s super interesting how one of the knowledge seekers implicitly betrayed Wan Shi Tong by showing the Gaang the planetarium, thereby indirectly telling them about the eclipses.
Having the library sink before they figure out when the next eclipse happens adds a whole lot.
It highlights Sokka's ability to make calculated risks.
It gives needed tension in the exposition Sokka gives:
A. Knowing what an eclipse does to fire benders is only worthwhile if you know about the next eclipse.
B. The information is only truly valuable if an eclipse happens before Sozin's commet.
C. They are actually desperate. Sokka understands that even though Aang and Katara don't. He recognizes that they can't afford to
miss the tactical advantage this information would give. It's worth risking their life for.
The thing I love about this show is sometimes the attention to detail is so spot on. And then sometimes scary momo
6:48 i’m guessing zhao’s escape strategy was leaving his mean for dead as a distraction to become owl food while he booked out out of there.
I think he managed to stay for a few days and gained some level of mundane presance so whan shi ton wouldnt check up on them constantly, then burned the fire nation section and left
The section on the nations is on the upper floor Plenty close to the exit
Explains why the library was almost hidden, we assume its the sand that covered it
But Whan shi ton proved he could sink or raise it
@@donovanulrich348 I don't think the spirit was really doing anything but being in the library. What else is he going to do, hes already got foxes getting new knowledge for him. More likely is that he studied for a day or 2, told the general that theres way too much info on the fire nation in there, and they dispatcehd a few lowranking fire benders to burn it down, who probably died.
What is crazier, imagine if he spent more time on the earth kingdom in there....I mean, the water benders aren't exactly going out of their way to fight fire nation in the show (which is why the fire nation is winning probably). Zhao could have found some crazy info and probably could have inforned the general of crazy war changing events...
7:56 she is talking about when the moon spirit was in the bag, during lunar eclipses, the moon turns red and it’s exactly what happened when the fish got in the bag.
my theory is that at one point wan shi tong was once Just A Guy but his dedication to pure knowledge for knowledge's sake eventually transformed him, and the bit about "STUFFED heads of anthrology" was more than just a throwaway joke, and the walrus-ram, lynx-tarantuala, and crocodile-axolotl on the wall were other scholars who were transformed into spirits in a simmilar way who died before him, and he really is warning the professor that if he spends too long reading all the library's books he'll transform into a spirit beast too
well we see his skeletal remains in Korra but I suppose his soul might have turned into a spirit beast
what if the professor IS wan shi tong, we know spirit time works differently, maybe he eventually becomes the spirit and goes back in time through the spirit world
@@sinancothebest Another example of LoK ruining good writing in AtLA
@@LizardOnAMushroom2358 nah.
@@LizardOnAMushroom2358 the temple was filling with sand. the dude probably suffocated
I think one of the reasons to have Sokka turn back for the eclipse info while trying to escape, rather than have them get the info and then need to escape, is it makes the impact of Appa being stolen much worse. If they had left right away, as soon as the library started sinking, then the writers would have had to have no way for the gang to get out in time to rescue him. But instead, Appa was lost as a direct consequence of Sokka's choice - they could have rescued him if they left as soon as the library started sinking, but instead they had to stay behind and get the vital intel. It gives Sokka's choice weight he didn't know it would have, and also makes it feel like Appa was lost for something.
Well said
Spirits are essentially lawful neutral, or pure lawful, they each have a code, and they EXIST by that code, and if you think about it, that makes sense, they live for thousands of years, and after a while they probably go mad with boredom, so they give themselves a code to give a sense of challenge, to an immortal, life is basically a game, so they give themselves a role, and some rules to play, it's actually what I think an immortal would do IRL.
I think it is less to make things more challenging and a game, and more so that they simply believe they are right. They have lived hundred or thousands of years and have that many years of knowledge and experiences and are usually isolationists so they don't come into contact with differing beliefs. So over time they become more and more dogmatic about things. Think about humans, a decent chunk of people anywhere from 15-80 are very staunch in their beliefs about one thing or another.
"To an immortal, life is basically a game"
_The Eternals would like to know your location_
More of the concept of they are their code. Hei bai is the guardian spirit of his forest and he is in essence the forest itself given form. Thus his wrath at its destruction. Although it doesn’t make sense that a guardian spirit doesn’t know how forest fires work.
Ko on the other hand is a collector of faces and steals faces when they express a faces purpose of displaying emotion.
Then you have Wan shi ton the collector of knowledge essentially a cross between a collector and hoarder who lives in an ivory tower with his head buried in the sand who exists solely to expand his hoard.
I've always thought of them as representations metaphysical concepts, with the Avatar being a spirit themself, one that brings balance and ensures the safety of both the physical and the spirit worlds.
this is the state you reach with enlightenment. life truly is a literal game and given that ephemeral human material conditions are unimportant from this perspective, dedication to a mission to promote the proliferation of certain values is truly all there is to do.
0:30 the sudden worry is probably from last episode when he was telling Katara what really matters.... Which is taking down the firelord
That's headcannony at best.
Rest In Peace Professor Zei. Died reading vast knowledge only to have his skeleton and clothes discovered a century later.
There’s a moment when the owl is looking for Katara while she is hiding behind a bookshelf that looks like it was inspired by the kitchen scene with the raptors from the original Jurassic Park.
I feel like that's an axolotl frog at 4:05, but I'm open to suggestions. Maybe it's a bull eagle.
Toothed axolotl toad?
Crocodile frog?
I was going with axolotl alligator/crocodile (I can never remember the difference)
It's a salligator. =>
@@blazelightshine2311 the frogodile
"Update: this kid goes pretty hard actually lmao - kid nearly killed Zhan for real" subbed lmfao glorious that you snuck this into like three damn frames
What I appreciate about you dude is that you obviously love this show, but also criticize it fairly. That climax-timing issue bugged me too, but you put it way better than I could’ve.
Keep them coming, these make my week!
1:08 the mini Death Star hanging outside the canteen with a pretty big exhaust port in the side!
I wanna think about how many dates they actually had to check for the eclipse. At the end of book 2, in episode 2x19, General How says the Day of Black Sun is in “exactly two months.” Add to that the fact that four weeks are supposed to have passed between now and Tales of Ba Sing Se. Yeah that leaves a couple episodes where we could add a little bit of time, but I think it’s safe to say that the eclipse is around 3-4 months from now, which would mean they checked between 90-120 dates. EXCEPT! If they were really smart, they’d only have to check 3 or 4 dates. Why? Well people in this universe seem to know the phases of the moon pretty well (despite the lack of continuity in moon animation) because whenever the full moon becomes a plot point, the characters always know it’s coming. For a solar eclipse to happen, it definitionally has to be a new moon, and it stands to reason that if they know when the full moon is, they’d know when the new moon is as well. Yeah maybe they wouldn’t know those exact dates of the top of their heads, but they could also narrow in on it that first time a solar eclipse gets close. Who knows, maybe that’s exactly what they were doing, but this montage seems to imply that they’re checking every single day.
I like this thought process way better because it can show us how clever they are. Plus it can narrow down that time window that was _clearly_ controversial. "We don't have enough time to make it to the exit, but we have enough time to check 100+ dates" always bothered me so much. Also, they didn't know when the eclipse would come or even if it would come before the comet! So without hindsight, they're willfully checking every date from present day to comet! You can't just montage that time by!
I think the problem with that reasoning is, well, *we* know the requirements for solar eclipse, but would the people of Avatar's world? And the moon isn't just a piece of rock, it is a spirit.
@ JackPhoenixCz I doubt too the information is common knowledge. Otherwise Sokka would not be insisting on checking now if there was any hope of any scholar (like in Ba Sing Se university) being able to tell when next solar eclipse is. Unless Sokka didn’t think they would know even if they knew something about the requirements? And maybe they do know but Sokka/Katara and Aang lack the education to know anything about this so they think only this library has any information.
I'd like to point out that weeks, months, years and even days can take very different amounts of time depending on the planet.
Additionally I didn't knew there was a specific moon phase for an eclipse to happen, even, or even because, I'm on 21st century, I have access to the information but no need to know. As travellers, and especially the siblings from the south pole who hunted their own food on a place with just ice as landmarks, knowing your constellations is probably very important.
but how could they possibly know when the full moon is, theres no rhyme or reason to it in this universe
5:28 I like how even though you only see it for a second, you still stuck with translating Aang’s wanted poster
Anyone else bothered by the fact that the spirit destroyed so many bookshelf while trying to prevent them from leaving?
The shelf’s aren’t the books, and I assume the spirit has red them all already so could recreate them if needs be.
We see in Korra that the books are basically all fine. Besides, he's mostly just knocking over the shelves, not melting the books with lasers or anything.
Also, he 100% DNGAF, because _he_ won't be the one who has to clean that shit up.
yeah he's a classic seemingly well-meaning authority figure who nonetheless is simultaneously so powerful that nobody should be able to escape (especially Zhao) yet somehow still fails, and causes himself more grief in the process.
Considering he’s sending his library “out of this world,” it can be presumed that there’s some weird spirit world laws that prevents or circumvents destruction of this kind, somehow
Of course, with firebending or total annihilation circumventing the retention of such knowledge.
Yuh, but ig he was really pissed at the time and would have the foxes rebuild
Returning to the Planetarium should heighten the tension as their escape is already perilous, but does drag on. Having Mr. Owl interrupt their search for the Day of the Black Sun so they have to go back to finish it instead of initiating the entire process seems a good way to get that good character moment for Saka realizing they can't leave without that information without slowing the finale of the episode to a crawl.
I think them turning around is great character building for sokka. Think about it. Everybody has the standard reaction of „oh no we might die, let’s get out of here“ but sokkas top priority isn’t the immediate danger. He grew up under the fire nation raids. His father actually abandoned him because he was willing to put down his life and fight an impossible war to save the world. But that just inspires sokka to be selfless like him. He believes from his heart that beating the fire nation is more important than his own personal life. So if there is a chance the calendar might help them achieve that you best believe my boy sokka would turn around.
I agree it's a great character moment for Sokka
Although I think that would've worked really well if he didn't make out of the library with the rest of the gaang.. If he died there sacrificing himself for that knowledge that would've been a 10
@@lonemotheo1964 Avatar if it was rated TV-MA.
Just when you said the big reference to Star Wars bit at 1:08 I noticed the lamp-looking thing hanging off the side of the entrance looks like a Death Star!
I think Toph's "there it is!" line is the first of her many quips poking fun at other people forgetting about her blindness. That's one thing I like about how they handle her: the jokes about her blindness are just as likely to be ones she makes at others' expense for being dumb as they are to be a slip-up on her part
Compilation of most of them: ruclips.net/video/D7E-D1KvXxE/видео.html
How does she see it when she’s not attached to the ground?
@@asianrelations edited for the vid to make a joke. watch the video linked above for the original scene.
@@asianrelationswith her eyes
That archeologist is underground during book 3 eating foxes, rationing his water, really regretting that stupid decision.
*anthropologist
I love how the biggest problems with Avatar are minor things like "Hey, Sokka abruptly brings up this sensible concern, that we never even considered, for the first time this episode".
1:08 additional Star Wars reference, a hanging disco like ball outside to look like the death star in the planet’s sky. Awesome detail.
Well, if there are anthropologists in this universe, and other types of scientists, then it is quite imaginable that the style of the swamp people has been recorded by them. This of course, if the swamp people themselves did really not document it. But even if not, it is also imaginable that the swamp people have some sort of oral tradition concerning their bending. Who knows, Wan Shi Tong might have travelled the world for field work to research all the bending styles there are.
4:06 it's an axolotl toad
Something heartbreaking about this episode: It's possible that if Aang and Sokka hadn't turned back to figure out the eclipse thing, Aapa might not have been kidnapped because they might've made it out before the sandbenders had the time to capture him.
It's worth noting that the move the sandbenders do to root themselves to the ground is the same one Katara does while fighting Pakku.
1:29 you could make the argument that the pressure of the air pushing against the cloth could loosen things out of it, especially solids, it doesnt even necessarily need to dry it if it can just... _push_ it off.
The Sandbenders are so cool and we bearly find out anything about them. Their bending is clearly influenced by airbending. I also like the way this one guy stabilizes himself at 10:18 just like Katara did back in season 1 with ice when she fought against Pakku. It makes me wonder if they are also influenced by waterbenders (specifically those from the poles because icebending seemed to be an unknown concept for the waterbenders from the swamp)
Sandbending isn't the only fusion of two elements, at least if you consider Legend of Korra canon. Lavabending mixes fire and earth, and there are a couple other things that I can't remember right now and will feel really stupid when I remember them in five minutes
@@dungeonmaster4226
Mud is a water and earth element, and cloud/fog/air density is a fusion of water and air.
@@dungeonmaster4226 the fusion of elements can be considered an extension of Iroh talking about how any ordinary bender can take knowledge from other civilizations and use it to create new knowledge and wisdom.
@@ziqi92 I had actually forgotten that conversation. Thanks for reminding me!
@@dungeonmaster4226 lava is not bendable by fire.
I'm 2 years late and i don't know if anyone else has caught it but i saw that at 2:57. You ain't slick, OA, i'm onto you.
Oh I can't believe we're now getting into the episodes without appa... This entire arc is great but it always makes me so sad
Me too 😢
"Watch this show with me," I said to my wife. "It's... uh... Kung-Fu Jesus and the Planeteers."
"That sounds dumb," she said.
"Just one episode."
That was this episode.
"WE CAN'T GO TO BED! WHAT HAPPENS TO APPA?!" She was nearly inconsolable. I went from watching 1-2 episodes a night to watching 4-5 episodes a night. Due to our work schedules, she was able to watch everything up to this point without me before our second watch session. Never would have happened if... like... a human character was taken.
This was absolutely my favorite episode as a kid. Always super excited when I would see it would be coming on
i think that the sudden worry about the war that sokka had at the start is the reason why he felt he needed to go back and find the date of the eclipse, like he was starting to freak out about them not having a plan to defeat ozai and he found the perfect chance, he wasnt gonna let it slip
I think the reason they couldn't just have them discover the solar eclipse date before the library starts sinking is that then the Gaang would get out *too* quickly, and the sandbenders wouldn't have time to finish stealing Apps. Like imagine how that would go: the Gaang learn the date of The eclipse, Wan Shi Tong goes apeshit, the Gaang books it out of there, and when they come out the sandbenders are still in the middle of stealing Appa so they can stop them. Alternatively the sandbenders could come before the library starts to sink, but then Toph could put up a fight. Either way, there wouldn't be enough time with no one available to defend Appa.
You make an absolutely fantastic point. Didn't consider the alternatives. This really was the only way to stall for time for everything to happen the way it did
6:49
I like to think Zhao was the _only_ one who made it out alive.
Throwing back to Hei Bai, the black and white spirit, being literally named "black and white" in mandarin, Wan Shi Tong, he who knows ten thousand things, is literally named "he who knows ten thousand (or, as the number is often used, "immeasurable") things". Pretty neat!
Maybe Saka’s worry kicks in after he was stuck in the ground. He was saying in a line “it really makes a man think what’s important in life” but got cut off
4:06 the weird green animal is a mix between what looks to be either a frog or some kind of lizard while the other half is an axolotl
I like that Toph has a little moment with Appa. It really drives her sorrow at the end of the episode home.
I think the best little insignificant detail in this episode is that whenever wan shi tong speaks his beak never matches the words, like he doesn’t actually need to use his mouth to speak and just does it (imperfectly) to try and make himself seem more natural to the humans or something. very tiny detail but honestly one of my favorites in the show
4:08 that appears to be an Axolotl+Frog mix.
With teeth
Axolotlgator
Might be an axolotl+ alligator
@@TheRealMycanthrope I had actually thought Croxolotl.
I never understood the professor deciding to stay in the library. He says he wants to spend an eternity reading, buy theres no food or water. He's just going to die in a few days
Easily one of my favorite episodes in Avatar. Love the idea of a library in the desert with seemingly all recorded knowledge up to that point stored within it and the part with Toph making that tough decision to let Appa get captured so she can save the rest of her friends was heartbreaking as a kid
Edit: Just realized the library of Wan Shi Tong is inspired by the Library of Alexandria. Both are libraries in the middle of the desert containing large amounts of knowledge, and in both cases the vast amount of knowledge within was lost to time
The library of Alexandria was not in the middle of a desert.
Nah it wasnt a misstep by the writers, sokkas decision to go back in the planetarium. The pacing and climax was right because we as the audience know/ see toph struggling to hold up the library while also trying to protect Appa. Meanwhile, sokka doesnt know how much time he has left but we do so it adds another level of uneasy and anticipation for thr viewer. Making the end result even more nail biting.
Another interesting thing about the spirits in atla is that they never lie. Even Vaatu in Korra.
They have no reason to. There's nothing for an immortal to gain from lying. They already know everything they care to know, and the information is useless without someone to give it to.
@@alastarmullen1072 oh for sure, but I found it strange that even Vaatu doesn’t lie, when tgey pleaded with Wan to set them free because “ he has been tormented to thousands of years” it wasn’t a lie, it was misleading, but definitely not a lie. It just seems like the writers took care to make that a trait of spirits.
Even Koh, a dude who is called “the face stealer,” something closer to a demon in western mythology, ends up helping Aang because he gives him the info he’s looking for. He plays with Aang a lot, trying to get him to make any expression so he can do what his title says, but he’s fully honest otherwise.
3:31 Zuko now hunts them for the Avatar and his nice ass rope back
Professor Zei actually shows up again in The Legend Of Korra, when she
(Spoilers)
Goes to the spirit world and finds the Sunken Library, she talks to the Giant Owl and states “i could spend the rest of my life reading here” inwhich the owl responds “the last person who said that is still here” and he then points over to The Professor, who is now a ragged clothed Skeleton, surrounded by scrolls and open books.
Wtf Dedicated Man
I like that this implies that after the library shifted into the spirit world or whatever that Shi Tong just let the professor keep reading.
Ya know what's the one thing I adore about this channel? The fact that you don't just mindlessly praise everything about the show because it's good, but you also critique it when it's justified. Sure, a lot of these are minor nitpicks for the sake of comedy (like the moon continuity, or the "normal animals" bit) but, as an example, your criticism on Sokka and Aang going back to to discover the eclipse when they did was entirely valid and justified.
4:06 That looks like an axolotyl-toad, maybe. The gill structures look axolotyl. Also, "stuffed head of anthropology" is too funny! It's amazing the amount of humor that takes age to appreciate
ngl, i'd risk getting killed over a misunderstanding to have access to a library of all the world's knowlege. Especially if it was owned by a giant talking god owl.
Can’t believe someone put his fox on the y-axis
Wa Shi Ton could totally have built the planetarium himself physically.
Birds are actually very dexterous. They would use their claws and beak.
I wanna see a tutorial how he did it. Must be so cute
Also, he can swipe his wings over items and apparently just make them disappear.
“Why are the rules the way they are? Fuck you! That’s why!”
Woah childhood flashbacks
I love how you keep acknowledging how the spirits are impartial and weird as shit and do things that don't make sense to us mortals, and are awesome for it.
4:06 Seems to me like it’s a Froxolotl- An Axolotl and frog hybrid. It could also be a toad
1:43 what was the primary agricultural product of the southern air temple?
Not that the writers know anything about moon continuity, but in the few months Sokka would have to check for an eclipse date he'd only have to check the days with new moons so really it's only as many as the months plus or minus one until the comet.
lunar eclipses occur during full moons
@@RisenSlash yeah but the day of black sun is a solar eclipse
5:46
I really like how it feels appa is actually listening and is like "huh neat"
It's been shown before that Appa can understand human speech so he probably is actually listening
9:58 Sokka only needs to check every NEW MOON before Sozin's comet arrives. Solar eclipses only happen during the new moon
Alternatively, given how infamous the "full moon" animation gimmick happened on this show...maybe they could have planned a regular invasion taking their time and then they just ask Yue if she can move the moon a little to the left.
Hello! Just want to thank you for such great content! This is like the 3rd time I'm re-watching your vids and they are really interesting, I also have some stuff to add regarding some stuff you point out, but I feel like I'm a bit too late to the party 😅 anyway cheers!
Wait... so Katara's lunar eclipse reference is referring to the season 1 finale..? For some reason, and I've seen this like five times, I always thought she was talking about an isolated event that didn't happen in the show. Because I agree, just because the moon turned red, doesn't mean it was a lunar eclipse. Pretty sure it was symbolic and made for a pretty great art style.
Also, a solar eclipse blocks the sun entirely, which explains why fire-bending doesn't work. But in a lunar eclipse, the moon is entirely visible. It's not blocked at all. Unless we say the light of the moon gives waterbenders more power? But since the light of the moon is reflected from the sun, that would mean that waterbenders grt their power from the sun! Which makes no sense. It's the gravity of the moon, not the light of the moon, that should give its power. But I'm sure the show just wanted to be symbolic, like having a full moon every other episode.
ehhhh magic don't think about it (except I did too)
Every lunar eclipse turns the moon red fam
The whole with your theory is that a full moon gives water benders more power, so the light reflected does help to transmit the power somehow. It seemed reasonable that if the reflection is “tainted” (the red light seen during a lunar eclipse), the power to waterbend would be cut
@@gamewarrior348 So they get their power from the sun. I guess I'm okay with that, as Guru Pathik said the separation of the four elements is an illusion.
@@lettuceprime4922 But is every time the moon is red a lunar eclipse?
Wow, how good eyesight that toph saw the library from the sky.
When Sokka and Aang go back to find out when the next solar eclipse is, I think they unwittingly allow Appa to get captured. If they left immediately, they would have likely gotten out in time to save Appa from the sandbenders... But they also wouldn't have been able to prepare for the day of black sun.
Sokka could’ve also unknowingly caused Appa’s capture by taking the parchment about the eclipse, as Wan Shi Tong (probably) wouldn’t have found out about their plans, and subsequently sink the building, thus Toph wouldn’t have been preoccupied with keeping the building up to stop the sandbenders and be able to save Appa. Then again, they’d leave with no plan at all, making the episode a waste of time.
@@Delta_AvesIdk, she may be the best earth bender in the world, but she’s far from the best sand bender. And there were, like, 5 guys.
The archeologists always hits. A man knows what he wants.
The lamp outside the saloon is also sort of shaped like a “Deathstar” too. Thought that was a cool detail for me.
I find it extremely ironic that the owl would fight to defend his knowledge to be used in way he deems unfit while one of those being to use it to help fight in a defensive war.
This was always a memorable episode for me as a kid, mostly because I liked reading and thought the mechanical calendar was so fuckin cool
Side note first: I'm rewatching the show, and then trying to finish both the comics and Korra, so having these videos available gives my binge more focus and points out things I miss, so thank you for this series.
This was always a bit of a frustrating episode for me to watch standalone. It ends on a sad note for a change (the series needs that variation though), and them going back while Appa was being taken was kinda aggravating. However, I love the owl spirit and the way the eclipse (and even Appa being gone) gives the team purpose.
I feel an important thing about the spirits is that while the Avatar is the bridge between their worlds, just like not every human is a fan of the Avatar, not all spirits will be (and with that, probably not most of them). Probably to the spirits, unless a human is out there trying to destroy the spirit world, few of them would care about what the Avatar is doing lol.
1:08 if it is meant to be a Star Wars reference, I feel you missed the stand-in for the death star that's hanging from one of the buildings.
As a kid, this episode always gave me the chills. Even then, it was still one of favorites then, and even now. Absolutely perfect writing.
It is now my head cannon that Aang joined Irohs band after the war
1:55 "God, it's a barren, featureless desert out there isn't it?"
"It's the other side, sir."
Lmao loved the toph seeing it joke
I always thought holding a building up made Toph seam extremely power, which helps the idea of her being the first person to bead metal. She is stopping it for sinking into the whole spirt world
This episode is a D&D adventure and I love it.